Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Slideshow and lecture at Macalester

Today we gave a presentation at Macalester as part of the Pi Sigma Alpha lecture series. We were well-dressed, and just moments before we were about to begin, a voice bellowed from the corridor: "Nicole! You look like a Republican!"

Always good to have David Seitz at an event.

Speaking for about 35 minutes, Nicole and I briefly summarized our model of Complementary Collaboration, showed Jaime's photos and told anecdotes about four popular movements in Quito and El Alto, and presented our academic argument about women's inclusion on the executive councils of these movements. We had a full house and received another 30 minutes of good questions and comments, as well as suggestions for the future direction of our research. Our various anecdotes about interviewing a vampire, being briefly imprisoned, and getting kicked out of a restaurant while interviewing one of Ecuador's national political officials were well received. So were the cookies.

It was great for me to be able to share our work with my friends, who have heard tangential anecdotes about my experiences but hadn't heard too much about all the data we've collected and the specifics about our case studies. Oh, bridging connections between worlds! I also liked the juxtaposition between looking like a Daughter of the American Revolution and simultaneously talking about the twin beasts of neoliberalism and privatization. What would Sarah Palin say?!

The Project

Women on the Frontlines:

Resource Wars, Popular Movements, and Gender Dynamics in Bolivia and EcuadorDuring the last decade, Bolivia and Ecuador have been marked by “resource wars” in which mass mobilizations have challenged the neoliberal privatization of resources such as water, land, petroleum, and natural gas. In the past two years, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa have been critical of privatization, aligning themselves with the goals of popular movements. Increasingly, national political agendas are set by mobilized popular movements that aim to redirect control over resources from private multinational corporations to alternate forms of local control. For Bolivia and Ecuador, these resource wars thus mark fundamental shifts in concepts of national sovereignty and popular participation in democratic processes.

Yet the specific role of women leaders within these movements has been largely overlooked.How have women leaders shaped the struggles of these popular movements?Internally, does female leadership yield qualitatively distinct decisions about movement governance and strategy?And externally, does the gender of leaders shape interactions with government and the success of demands?

The research project, born out of a collaboration between Macalester College Political Science/Latin American Studies Professor Paul Dosh and student Nicole Kligerman ’10, intends to answer these questions to explore the changing role of women within the political sphere. Our research will primarily be conducted in La Paz/El Alto, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador.